Profile: First Among Equals

The journey from Wall Street investment banker to entrepreneur was well underway when Neetu Bhatia turned 35 in 2009. A little more than a year after her return from the US to India, where she was born and raised, she had already accomplished a lot but her biggest and most impactful moment was just on the anvil as she became the co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Kyazoonga.

Big Ticket
Kyazoonga, a startup that was established as India’s first sports and entertainment ticketing company, embarked on two huge ticketing endeavours — ticketing the ICC Cricket World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh; and forming a consortium with the world’s largest ticketing company, Ticketmaster, to bid for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

While the Commonwealth Games bid didn’t go their way, the Cricket World Cup did and it was a seminal moment in Kyazoonga’s journey. That India won the cup and the company’s services to the historic tournament were etched in the annals of history, was a proud event for every person in the company, says Neetu proudly.

The events of 2010-11 helped shape Kyazoonga’s vision of ‘making tickets simple for everyone everywhere’. It gave them the confidence to take a moonshot and mount a bid for the ticketing of the Rio Olympics 2016. The company became one of two finalists in the Olympics bid process, arguably the most complex ticketing exercise on the planet, among a plethora of global companies vying for the prestigious, multi-hundred-million-dollar project.

Rapid Success
Coming in second in their first-ever Olympics bid cycle was a defining moment for Kyazoonga, an event that gave it a definite sense of purpose and a belief in their product and capability to bring cutting-edge technology and services to the global market. For Neetu, the world became truly Kyazoonga’s oyster. “Today, as we rapidly become a global ticketing company and expand in various international markets, establishing greenfield operations in some, while taking away business from established majors in others, there is immense pride for what we’ve accomplished in a short span of time, as one of a handful of true-blue global product companies coming out of India,” she said.

The journey has been exhilarating, but not without its challenges. As a startup with a radical new idea in a nascent market that sat bang in the middle of the supply-demand curve, Kyazoonga had the pulls and pressures of both. They had to deliver a great product to a customer base, but had to first evangelise it. “We focused on seeding the market with the idea that online and professionalised ticketing was the best, most democratic way to access their favourite shows and sports,” said Neetu

World Class
On the supply side, the company worked on educating clients on the merits of driving inventory through a centralised technology platform that powered multiple channels and made fulfilling demand a more transparent and powerful exercise. “We have been successful in driving revenue and sustainability of many business models including those of major leagues, franchises, clubs, venues, event organisers and promoters along the way,” she said.
As they continued to build a world-class product, the company also focussed on achieving unit profitability and a sustainable and profitable business model. Neetu says, “As we look to expand rapidly across the globe, additional growth equity that we plan to raise will only serve as a catalyst for quicker expansion and capture of key markets.”

Female Brigade
Two of Kyazoonga’s three co-founders are women and so are some of the key members of the leadership team. Some of Neetu’s friends from school, college, and cricket, Arpita Majumder and Shubhangi Kulkarni, have stood her in real good stead. “My support system is made up of even stronger women: my mother and godmother who are constant sources of inspiration themselves. All of us in our lives and careers, have worked and broken barriers and ceilings in traditionally male-dominated environments — Wall Street, cricket, technology, engineering, public services,” says Neetu.

She has also been fortunate that some of their closest colleagues, friends and mentors have been men with a vision, and belief in their mission. “Although, in this part of the world, sometimes I do see a sense of insecurity in the opposite gender while dealing in a professional, business setting, she says, “Such attitudes and behaviour will change with time as more women become first amongst equals in the career and business paths they choose.”

Better Than The Next
The key for Neetu has always been to be better than the next guy while subjecting herself to a constant self-evaluation and audit of self-improvement. Whether it was winning the Best Outgoing Student award at engineering college in India to getting top career offers upon graduating from MIT to doing deals over $40 billion on Wall Street, and then turning tech entrepreneur, carving out not just a path but an entirely new market while disrupting established ones, Neetu says that she never considered herself or allowed to be considered different in any professional context.

“I’d like to believe that I have achieved what I have because I did better than the next person — whatever their gender — while bettering, competing and constantly improving my own self. It is my strong belief that the moment one allows others to treat you differently because of your gender, you are toast!”